"Something in particular you need?" One of the elves asked as he started to set up the stalls.

"Not really. I've perused the majority of the market, and now I'm wondering what your group might have found."

The sailor rolled his eyes.

"If you're just bored and looking to burn coin, we've got a poker game going onboard the ship."

Karl smiled. "Now we're talking."

The Elf paused his work to assess Karl more carefully.

"An avatar of the World Dragon, is it? And a powerful one, for your age. I don't recognize that class tag, but I've seen a decoration like that before. Ask the Captain, see if she has a seat at the table."

Karl nodded, and headed toward the dock, where an Elven woman in a bright blue tricorn hat was shouting orders at the sailors.

"Permission to board?" Karl shouted up at her, and the woman waved for him to come up to the top deck.

One leap, and a bit of assistance from his skills, took Karl to the steerage area of the ship, where the Captain was still shouting orders.

"Your man says that you've got a poker game going" Karl informed her between orders.

The woman smiled. "You think that you're good enough at the game to play against us?"

Karl just laughed. "Talent has nothing to do with it."

The Captain whistled, and her first officer, a similarly dressed eleven sailor, waved Karl over.

"I don't know who imagined that you were a big enough sucker to want to gamble with us, but we do have a game going. The buy in is two thousand coins. Can you afford to lose that?"

"I can."

He followed her beneath the decks, where a dozen older sailors and a handful of desperate looking humans were playing cards around a round table covered in clay chips.

There were six seats, and only five were currently full, as promised.

"Pass me the coin and I will trade you the chips. It's the rule. We only use chips, as every nation has different currency."

Karl went to exchange more credits, and realized that he had options now that he was standing on the ship. He could exchange for the Clan Coins, which were the local currency, or he could trade for Elven Silver coins.

They appeared to have the same value to the System, one thousand to a Clan Credit.

So, he picked the Elven silver, out of respect for his host.

The sailor opened the bag, and then stared at Karl in shock before handing him a stack of clay gambling chips and nodding to the table.

Karl took his seat, and the dealer nodded as he waited for Karl to place his money on the table before dealing the next hand.

This type of poker was simple. Everyone got two cards, and then five more were placed on the table to complete your hand, with betting in between each drawing.

Karl picked up his cards, and then realized that the deck was enchanted. With the Fundamental Rule of Mana Manipulation, he could see the faint glow on the deck, a flat sheen of power that prevented his senses from penetrating the paper.

Sneaky, but fair.

Not completely familiar with the betting customs, Karl looked at his cards, the four and five of cups, and matched the current bet when it was his turn.

All but two of the others folded, and the dealer laid out the first three cards to start the next round of betting.

The three, six and seven of cups.

Karl looked at the stack of chips and saw that they were one five and ten coin denominations. The current bet was fifty coins each, but a small voice in the back of his head, possibly Cara, told him that this was the perfect time to push his luck.

He placed down chips worth five hundred coins, and the other two glared at him.

They were not going to be bullied out of the betting by a large raise. If the newcomer wanted to play dirty, they would take him for everything.

One man immediately folded, but the other smiled at Karl and upped the bet to a thousand coins.

Karl matched it, and the dealer set down another card, the seven of dragons.

A smirk crossed the man's face, and Karl realized that he had at least three of a kind. Three sevens in particular.

But it was his turn to bet, so he tapped the table, indicating that he would hold the current bet.

"Why don't we make this a properly high stakes game?" The other gambler muttered.

He slid another thousand coins of chips over, enough to completely empty Karl's buy in amount. The rest of the table looked smug as Karl matched the bet, and the King of Dragons was drawn.

He checked again, and the other gambler laughed. "Don't back out on me now. Dealer, I would like to raise the ante with items."

So, that was possible too.

Karl tried not to smile as he realized that he was going to enjoy this game.

"Name your trade, and we will offer credit." The First Mate announced.

"I will wager my dimensional compass."

The Elf smiled. That was a good win for them.

If he lost the hand, they could buy it from Karl. Presumably, the strange young

man with the black eyes that reflected the Chaos Plane wouldn't be interested

in a simple item for moving between dimensions.

He could likely do that on his own.

"Do you fold, or will you match the wager?" The dealer asked.

Karl took out a Villa Stone and tossed it to the First Mate.

"A fully equipped separate space, with food creation and mana gathering

arrays?

Yes, I can accept that as equal wager.

Show your cards."

The gambler turned over his cards. "Four sevens"

"Straight flush."

The man surged to his feet, blade in hand. But Karl just smiled at him and set

off a small [Chaos Vortex] in front of his face. Not close enough to hit him, but enough to warn him that he was flirting with death.

The gambler stomped out of the room, leaving the colourful chips that were

still in his pile on the table.

The First Mate gestured at the chips, and the dealer handed them to one of the

sailors, who counted them and grabbed silver from the chest in the corner

before running out after the man.

The Elves never cheated anyone of their money.